Zaimus 
The Unholy Spells Of Night 

Cold Raw Records 2014

Crawling from the obscure shadows of Montenegro is the infernal black metal of Zaimus' debut 4 song EP.  I was immediately surprised by how I was grabbed by the energy and ferocity of their songwriting.  The first song was the title-track and it swayed between an intense melodic riff and slower, keyboard driven segments that brought to mind early Gehenna.  The vocals are stone-hard rasps.  As the song drifted towards its conclusion a determined groove fed the track's foundation while swirling synth flourishes rush in like a whirlwind.  A powerful build-up of marching soldiers announces the track Iron Fortress.  A catchy riff with Gehenna-esque melodic synth makes the song even more engaging.  The song slows to a midtempo groove with atmospheric keyboards and then surprisingly bursts into blasting black metal annihilation.  A triumphant guitar/synth passage gallops from the opening of Nine Riders Of Black Sorcery.  Speedy blasts follow like archer volleys and lead into a rousing mid-tempo stomp including a thick solitary bass.  The guitars and synth rise and mimic the bass only to drift into nothingness.  The final track is the speedy gusts of Lord Of Obscurity.  Freezing blasts of hellish riffing and uptempo programmed drums absolutely cut through you like a cold wind across naked flesh.  The song slows to a crawl while become ethereal with dominating bass lines and dreamy synth followed by melodic leads.  A menacing set of riffs oozes across the final stages of the song until it is wiped away by speedy, sawing guitars and thunderous vocals.  Zaimus does really well with a slightly modified take on First Spell-ish black metal.  Really well done keyboard lines and interesting riffs make this such an enjoyable listen.  I am definitely interested to hear what these guys do in the future.